Seize the Good Eats

A Place That Feels Like Home

I have lived in Roanoke for 14 out of my 21 years of life. Not all at the same time. But even when my parents moved there in 1988, and even far before then, there has been one place that has stuck it out through thick and thin. And they deserve nothing less than pure admiration.

The Homeplace has been a Roanoke area staple for 32 years. They’re only open Thursday through Sunday and serve everything family style. It has even made the Virginia Tech 120 long list of things to do while you’re at school. They’re so good, they don’t even need a real website.

Their family style meals include all the Southern best: 3 meats (fried chicken, Virginia country ham, and roast beef), green beans, mashed potatoes biscuits, and the list goes on! And every meal is ended with a nice bowl of cobbler, cherry or peach, whichever is in season.

I have been coming here at least once a year every year since high school. And every time is just as good as the last. You can sometimes wait awhile but lemme tell you, it is worth it. Family style brings you together. The roast beef almost melts in your mouth. The mashed potatoes are better than what Momma used to make, also known as, they use more butter. The green beans are cooked in bacon fat, so they’re obviously amazing. I could go on.

One thing on that table wins out above the rest. Don’t get me wrong, everything on that table is just how you have it on Thanksgiving, maybe even better. But the apple butter is unlike anything. It is so sweet and with the perfect apple taste. It is seriously good on anything. The biscuits, of course, win that fight. I might have had four biscuits dolloped with apple butter on this trip. I even tried the apple butter on the fried chicken. I was surprisingly pleased.

Like I said, the admiration for the Homeplace is unlike most I have seen for restaurants. Everyone in high school knew it. All of my parents’ friends love it. My friends and I have even made it a tradition to go after one of my best friend’s birthday’s every year. We aren’t the only people who love it though. Why do you think we sometimes wait for 2 hours? Suffice it to say, if you are from the Roanoke area and don’t know what the Homeplace is, I am unsure if you can even say you are from Roanoke. As for the rest of ya, you’re missing out. Big time.